Stall



March 12, 1935. vR Q FERRls 1,994,193.

STALL Fil'ed June 2, 1934 Patented Mar. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES STALL Robert G. Ferris, Harvard, Ill., assigner to Starline, Inc., Harvard, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application June 2, 1934, Serial No. 728,777

1 Claim.

This invention is an improved stall which is fully described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the stall with a part of the framework bro-ken away to show the stanchion; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing a co-w in the act of lying down.

Cow stalls have heretofore been made with a curb between the stall proper and the manger and with the stall framework and stanchion supported on the upper part of the curb. The curbs have ordinarily been of rectangular cross-section with slightly rounded upper corners.. A considerable percentage of the cows accommodated in such stalls eventually bruise the knees of their forelegs to such an extent as to cause large swellings. These enlarged knees not only impair the value of the cows, but frequently are foci for infection, particularly tubercular infection.

Careful observation of the movements of the cows has led to the discovery of the cause of these bruises.

When the ycow lies down, her body, neck and head move backward from the position they occupy when the cow is standing. Therefore, unless the cow is well forward in the stall at the time she starts to 'lie down, her head-will be caught by the stanchion and may be bruised or thev neck'may be strained.

Hence, the cow learns to step forward as far as possible in the stall before starting to lie down so that she may move backward practically the length of the neck without putting any backward pull on the stanchion. When in this position, the cow starts to lie down by bending backward the lower part of one foreleg preparatory to kneeling with her forelegs, which is her first movement in lying down, and there is a great probability that the knee of the foreleg will strike the corner of the ordinary curb. A very considerable proportion of cows constantly strike one or the other knee of a foreleg on the corner of the curb in starting to lie down and the continued and repeated bruising has now been demonstrated to be the cause of the enlarged knees above referred to.

Even when the stall is of the type where no stanchion is used, a cow tie or the like being substituted, the same tendencies to bruise knees exist. 'Ihis is because the modern stall is necessarily made quite short inorder that the gutter at the rear may be in the proper position. Therefore, even without a stanchion, the tendency is for the cow to step as farr forward as possible before starting to lie'down.

The present invention greatly reduces and substantially eliminates the possibility of bruised knees. The result is accomplished by providing a curb 3 built as illustrated of concrete and in the usual position behind the manger, the rear s Y stanchion as in the present stall. The upper rear corner 5 of the curb is, however, sufficiently far forward that inA starting to lie down, it cannot be hit by the knee.

Figure 2 shows the cow making the first part of the movements performed in lying down. This illustration is approximately correct in size and proportion, having been made from a number of moving pictures which were required to develop the exact conditions which produce the bruising which the present invention'avoids. It will be seen from` this illustration that were the curb of the usual rectangular form, the knee of the 01T foreleg would strike the corner and that a bruise would be inevitable. Substantially this exact position has been observed and photographed sufciently frequently to demonstrate the im'- portance in preventing knee bruises of employing a curb, the base of which is well back from the stanchion so as to hold the cow to the rear when she starts to lie down and of having the upper rear corner of the stall much further forward than has heretofore been the practice. Use of a smooth slanting surface 'on the rear of the curb is, of course, also important because if the cows knee `strikes this, as it probably would in the position shown in Fig. 2, the knee slides harmlessly along the surface without injury.

Asa practical matter, I prefer to make the topV of the curb narrow, as illustrated, its width being substantially that required to hold the stall uprights 6 of the stanchion 7. This results in a relatively narrow upper surface upon which feed can lodge and the structure is thus more sanitary and easierto clean than the present structure.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: Y Y

A cow stall construction of the type wherein the animal becomes habituated to advancing to the front of the stall before lying dovm, and including a floor, a manger, and a concrete curb separating the stall proper from the manger, the lower part of the rear face of the curb at its intersection with the floor limiting the forward movement of the cows forefeet, and the said rear face extending upward from the floor at a forward inclination such that the rear edge of the upper face of the curb is sufciently ahead of the lower part of its rear face so that a cow with her forefeet against the lower part of the rear face, will in lying down rclear said edge with her knees. ROBT. G. FERRIS. 

